


Hanging Gardens

by catbear (bluedreaming)



Category: Tokyo Babylon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Canonical Character Death, Constructed Reality, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 06:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8046073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/catbear
Summary: If enough people tell the same stories, that's what everyone remembers.





	Hanging Gardens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kisuru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisuru/gifts).



> To my recipient,
> 
> You said you liked flower shop aus and also what ifs, so I got this idea. Each flower mentioned was chosen for a reason.  
> Thank you for your prompts and I hope you like this!

 

_The cherry blossoms are so beautiful this time of year . . ._

 

 

"Good morning!" Seishirō looks up from where he's arranging branches of oleander in a bucket of water to see Hokuto standing in the arch of the shopfront doorway, hip popped as she chews a wad of bubble gum. She's wearing a white sundress, one strap has slipped down to swoop around the curve of her shoulder, the darker denim of skinny jeans peeking out from between the tulle layers of the skirt. On her feet are bright pink galoshes.

_Pop._

The bubble Hokuto was blowing pops; Seishirō blinks. A pink petal is dislodged from the others, and drifts across the floor to land on the ground in front of Hokuto's feet.

"Oops," Hokuto laughs, scraping tatters of bubble gum off her lip with her tongue.

"Hello," Seishirō says, stepping back from the oleander to examine its appearance from further away. His glasses have slipped down the bridge of his nose, and he pushes them up with the tip of a finger before smiling at the girl. "You're in fine form today."

Hokuto laughs, the sound sweet. "I know, right?" she says, smoothing invisible creases from her skirt. "Anyway," she continues, "what are you up to today?"

Seishirō rolls up his sleeves. "The usual," he says, and Hokuto grins.

"I'm ready for anything."

 

 _Hanging Gardens_ isn't your typical local flower shop, starting from the name.

"But what does it mean?" Hokuto had asked, the first time she wandered into the shop. "Why are they hanging?"

Seishirō had glanced over, that first time, setting down the bundles of poppies he'd been arranging, to see the teenage girl peering curiously over the counter. She'd been wearing what looked like nothing less than a fashion explosion, but it suited her, he could tell immediately.

"The hanging gardens of Babylon are the one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," he'd explained.

"Hmm," she'd hummed, and he'd thought that was the end of it, until she showed up again the next day, and the day after that, until it became a nice little routine.

 

"I still don't know why you named the shop after gardens that might not even have ever existed," Hokuto says, a complete non sequitur. She's assembling a small bouquet of monkshood and babies breath for Seishirō, while he works on a larger arrangement of primroses, marigolds and Christmas roses. it's an interesting commission, and he's curious for whom the arrangement is intended.

"It doesn't really matter if they existed or not," Seishirō says. "If enough people remember them, they exist in their memory and the words they wrote down."

Hokuto tips her head, considering the bouquet and tweaking the baby's breath before finally tying off the stems with a black silk ribbon. "I guess it's like history," she says, "or myths. If enough people tell the same stories, that's what everyone remembers."

"Sometimes it depends on who's telling the story too," Seishirō adds. "Do you believe everything your parents tell you?" The arrangement is finished, and he sets it on the shelf behind the counter to wait for delivery. The order was made over the phone, and the androgynous voice had requested no card.

"I guess?" Hokuto shrugs, and then has to reach to pull up the strap of her dress. "Your parents usually want what's best for you."

Seishirō doesn't reply, reaching for the order list instead.

"What's next?" Hokuto asks, peering over his shoulder. Her eyes skim the list. "White roses, anemone and white heather?"

Seishirō nods, reaching for a glass vase on the top shelf.

"I think it would look nicer with coreopsis," Hokuto suggests, but she goes to fetch the listed flowers anyway. Seishirō picks the flowers specifically, and doesn't do substitutions. After all, _Hanging Gardens_ prides itself on being able to get any flower, even if it's out of season.

 

Hokuto has a twin brother, Subaru, who comes to the flower shop sometimes, though he doesn't really come inside, watching from beneath the brim of a knitted cap, hands tucked into his pockets.

Seishirō finds him somehow beautiful, a suggestion, while Hokuto is vibrant answers. 

"He's like a white chrysanthemum," Seishirō says to the shop when he thinks Hokuto isn't there, only to see the glint in her eye when she emerges from a profusion of daisies.

"Do you like my brother?" she asks. Seishirō doesn't answer, but the next window display has white chrysanthemums in it.

Hokuto keeps smirking at it when she thinks Seishirō isn't looking, until the display cycles out and he switches them for gardenias and gloxinias.

 

Hokuto ends up being able to use the coreopsis in an odd little arrangement, grouped with ferns; Seishirō leaves her puttering around with the stems as he stops to wash his hands at the sink in the back, trying them off with a fluffy towel before reaching for the order list.

The phone rings, the chime loud in the comfortable stillness, and Hokuto looks up as Seishirō reaches for the receiver. The black plastic is cold as he lifts it to his ear.

"Hanging Gardens," he says, but there's no response, just the sound of the wind; he looks up to the shop doorway as a gust of wind sweeps the pooling cherry blossoms up from where they've puddled along the gutters, filling the air with pink and white. Hokuto doesn't move, fingers tangled with the ferns as Seishirō steps back in surprise, the receiver slipping out of his grasp and knocking a vase off the counter, the glass shattering and water staining the ground, seeping out.

 

 

 

 

_But one must always remember Babylon—_

 

 

 

 

_Seishirō blinks._

_There's a gust of wind where he stands beneath the cherry tree, petals swirling together with broken glass and the hanging droplets of crimson as she flies backwards, the determination smoothing from her face, leaving it blank. The words fade from the page._

__"Your parents usually want what's best for you.” __

_Maybe there are other realities that don't end in a broken body tumbled together on the ground, fabric crumpled like crushed blossoms. Seishirō's hands are empty._

__"It doesn't really matter if it existed or not. If enough people remember it, it exists in their memory and the words they wrote down." __

_This is here, and the other is just a possibility that never even began._

_There are no words now._

 

**Author's Note:**

> The quotes at the beginning and the end before the epilogue are from _Tokyo Babylon_.


End file.
